Rapids

IT'S A GREY AFTERNOON. A Grey Heron stands on a rock, midstream at the top of the Calder rapids.

We thought that the Goosanders, which we first saw on the 16th March, had left a few days ago, but today they're back by their small grassy, pebbly island at the foot of the rapids. They launch themselves into the water like a pair of canoes. Compared with other ducks, their bodies are long and broad in proportion to the size of the head.